Eclipse
by Hisha P
Summary: Sequel to "The Samurai, the Witch and the Raven". Rated T because of chapter 4. "As the overlord Aku was sitting on his throne, he was spying on his mortal enemy and trying to think of new ways to torture or kill him."
1. Chapter 1

Sequel to "The Samurai, the Witch and the Raven".

I still don't own Samurai Jack or Aku, however the other characters of this fic are still mine. Enjoy!

* * *

As the overlord Aku was sitting on his throne, he was spying on his mortal enemy and trying to think of new ways to torture or kill him. In other words, it was just a normal day in the life of the Shape-Shifting Master of Darkness.

One of his four-fingered hands was slowly taping the armrest of his seat while the other grabbed a nearby popcorn bowl which had his own shape printed on it and poured its entire content in the demon's mouth.

It didn't take long for Aku to remember why he hadn't eaten this particular kind of snacks in such a long time : the pieces of popcorn kernels stuck between his teeth were even more annoying than the samurai.

As he was about to get his new floss in order to solve the problem, the image on the wall in front of him abruptly turned into statics.

"Are you broken AGAIN?!" the Shogun of Sorrow shouted.

He was now standing up and hitting the wall with his fist.

He tried to view several other locations and the image worked just fine ; however, anytime he would attempt to get back to whatever troubles the samurai had gotten himself into, the statics would return.

The very first time this had occurred was some years ago when the very same human fool was walking through a jungle. Now Aku's prying eye was malfunctioning for the second time in thousands of years.

"SHOW ME THE FOOL!"

Shouting at it didn't seem to make it work any better.

Whatever was disturbing Aku's magic and getting on his nerves shall be destroyed.

A few hours earlier, the duchess was awoken by screaming coming from the woman lying next to her in bed ; she didn't waste any time and did her best to wake her up from her nightmare.

It didn't take long for the red-haired woman to open her eyes, see that her partner was here with her and realise what she just saw was happily not real. Pulling the covers away and sitting up, she wrapped her arms around the blonde and clutched her tightly.

"It's ok _mon amour_, I'm here", the duchess soothed the witch, hugging her back and giving her a reassuring kiss on her forehead. "It was just a nightmare. Everything's fine."

For the first time in what felt like forever, the love of her life was sobbing.

"You hadn't had a nightmare in a while… are you alright?"

"It… it was different this time", the redhead replied when she finally could speak again.

"How so?"

"He wanted to _kill you_… so I tried to defend you, but… he – he turned his hand into a giant spear and impaled us both. And he was laughing the whole time… That laugh just wouldn't stop…"

The blonde parted from the witch for one second to open the drawer of her bedside table and grab something inside it.

"Oh darling, you know me so well", the witch smiled as the duchess opened a box of her favourite chocolates and fed her a couple of them.

The witch's lover would never understand how or why, as she wasn't fond of chocolate herself, however it never failed to make the woman she loved feel better, no matter what. Therefore she had bought and hidden this box a while ago just in case.

"You're amazing" the duchess' partner stated after swallowing a mouthful of chocolaty goodness.

"What else is new?" Claire laughed.

The witch smiled and nodded in agreement, then took a look at the custom-made alarm clock on her own bedside table. The glowing numbers showed 04:04.

"Sleep not found", she mumbled.

"_Chérie_, the error 404 doesn't exist anymore", the duchess reminded her.

The redhead ran her hand through her partner's short blonde locks, happy to see her alive and well after the nightmare she just went through. As she was about to kiss her, a pale hand gently stopped her.

"Darling, what did I tell you about chocolaty kisses?" the blonde reminded her partner before reaching for the drawer once more in order to take a small unlabeled water bottle. She then opened it and gave it to the witch, who quickly emptied it before resuming what she was doing before the little interruption.

Here, in the duchess' embrace, she felt safe. They both had worked very hard over the last four years so she could feel safe again, and it was starting to pay off.

He couldn't see them here. He couldn't find her. Who knows, maybe he had even forgotten all about her by now. She wished she could forget too, but some scars never fully fade away.

Rumours of two duchesses working on time travel had led Samurai Jack to a village far away from any big cities in the region. He had missed so many opportunities to go back home over the years and yet he couldn't help but keep his hopes up, no matter how many times said hopes were crushed.

It wasn't like he _could_ give up anyway : only him was able to accomplish the mission he was given centuries ago.

As he was walking through the empty street, the few stores there were in this village opened one by one. At the other end of the street, a tall woman with short blonde hair wearing a white shirt and cream trousers was standing in front of one of those stores, most likely waiting for it to open as well. The samurai couldn't see her face, as she had her back turned to him, and yet she looked familiar.

Out of boredom maybe, she started singing :

"_Délivre-moi du temps, conduis-moi hors du temps_

_Délivre-moi, délivre-moi, conduis-moi hors du temps_"

Jack was now certain of this woman's identity, as he had heard this voice sing in this language before.

She continued the song as the warrior approached her :

"_Ramène-moi ailleurs, inverse le courant_

_Ramène-moi en arrière, je veux changer d'horizon_"

She abruptly stopped when she heard footsteps behind her ; she turned around to see who was there.

"Jack? It's so good to see you again! It's been about four years!"

"It's always good to reunite with a friend."

The store opened, the duchess went inside and then came back with a large paper bag in her hands.

"Come with me", she told Jack, "my home is this way. You'll always be welcome here."

"Actually, I was looking for -"

"I know. We're also looking for it."

To be fair, everyone knew of the samurai's quest to go back to the past by now.

He followed the blonde to her castle. Even though the whole building was made of clear-coloured stone, some parts of it were worn out by centuries of exposition to the elements while other parts looked more recent ; the small castle must have been partially rebuilt at some point.

The duchess produced a rectangular device with a button on it from her pocket and pressed the button. Not even a second later, the door opened, allowing them to enter.

Inside, both living and breathing people and brooms animated by magic were making sure everything remained clean.

Claire stopped and then walked straight to one of the maids, a purple-skinned person wearing one these devices people in this future apparently used to listen to music.

"Excuse me?" she said.

The maid took the device off her head and asked :

"Is there something wrong, m'am?"

"You're new here, right?"

The employee nodded.

"They should have informed you we don't use Aku Corp products here", the duchess explained, pointing at the device.

The maid's three eyes blinked.

"But… what else do you want me to use?"

"Go to the second floor, you'll be given headphones that don't make you look like Aku."

The purple-skinned person looked down at the headphones in her hand.

"What do you m– Oh, wait, I see it now! I never noticed before!"

"Believe me, once you start noticing these things you just can't unsee them."

The maid nodded and left the room, examining the decorations on the headphones, most likely wondering how she didn't notice how much they looked like the horns of the Deliverer of Darkness.

"It's insane the number of things that look like him", the duchess explained to Jack once her employee was out of earshot. "We had to create our own brand of stuff. And sometimes I still have to buy Aku Corp products because nothing else is available, so I modify them to remove his image."

"I guess your friend doesn't want to see-", the warrior started.

"She's my wife now."

"I beg your pardon?"

"We're married", Claire told him, showing the gold ring on her finger. "We wanted to invite you to our wedding, we really did, but you don't have a location code or phone or any way to contact you, so…"

"I… I see. As I was saying, I understand why your, hum, wife and yourself would want to get rid of Aku's image."

"You're the only one who does…"

* * *

Note : The song the duchess sings is Délivre-moi by French band Atlantys. Turns out they are so obscure I couldn't find a decent studio version of it on youtube. If you want to hear it, ask me, I'll send it to you.


	2. Chapter 2

As they reached the castle's library, the duchess and the samurai found the witch chatting with a short and round blue-skinned man with two robotic legs. Even though their conversation was lively, it was completely silent, as they communicated through hand signs.

When they noticed they weren't alone, the blue man froze and his eyes widened while the redhead warmly greeted Jack like an old friend.

The blue man signed again, a surprised look on his face ; the witch replied to him in the same language, then spoke to the warrior in white :

"My friend would like you to sign his autograph book."

Jack obliged, and the joy on the mute person's face made him smile as well. He might still be stuck in the future, but the stories of his adventures gave the people of this world hope. Reaching the hearts of the inhabitants of the future Earth and becoming a symbol of courage and hope was without a doubt his greatest victory of all, for one simple, yet important reason :

Aku himself, despite all his powers, couldn't destroy all hope. Not everywhere, not forever.

The blue man put his autograph book back in his pocket and signed something to the witch, a question probably. As she seemed to hesitate, her wife asked :

"What did he say?"

"He, hum, asked us how we know Jack."

The duchess nodded and told the mute man it was a long and complicated story. He seemed to understand he wouldn't get a more detailed explanation, as he didn't insist. However (according to his red-haired friend's translation), he asked whether the samurai was there just to visit his friends or for another reason.

"I was told of two duchesses working on time travel", he explained.

"You're early then. Much too early", the witch told him. "We haven't had any result yet. Sorry."

"I understand", Jack said. "By the way, I didn't know you were _also_ a duchess."

"Well, since I married Claire I technically am", she replied, showing off her ring, "but I've never cared much for that kind of title. I didn't earn it or whatever."

"Is that why it took you so long to get my title right?" her wife asked, remembering the beginning of their relationship.

"Oh, no, I used the wrong titles on purpose just to annoy you", the witch laughed.

Then, she finally noticed the paper bag in Claire's hand.

"What's in this?" she asked.

"You'll see that tomorrow", the blonde replied. "Anyway, why not show Jack what we've been up to since last time?"

Most of the castle's lower ground floor had been turned into some kind of hybrid between a computer laboratory and a wizard's lair. Electronic parts, potions, prototypes of new devices and dusty books were scattered everywhere.

Against the opposite wall, a strange machine occupied half the room. Its numerous wires of varied colours were shaking faintly as the engine was producing a constant hum.

"My wife and I joined forces to create lots of stuff", the witch explained. "The very first thing we made is this big baby over here. We took my original concept of magitech to a whole new level. We called this machine Brouillard[1]. As long as she's here, no-one can spy on us or on anyone in this village. No matter if they use magic or technology."

_So that is how they escaped Aku's prying eye over the last four years_, Jack thought.

"We plan to make more of them to give to rebel movements, but Brouillard was difficult to make so she's also difficult to reproduce, so it's gonna take some time", the duchess explained.

"Also, we've been busy with lots of other projects", her wife added.

She then told the man in white how they replaced her lost hearing aid with an implant (the samurai didn't know what an implant was so the two women simply explained him it was a more permanent solution to the witch's bad hearing), created their own brand of custom-made devices, and, more recently, gave the blue man a brand new pair of legs after he lost his original ones in a car accident.

"And now, while researching time travel, we're working on a thing that will allow him to speak", the redhead finished while her friend sat on a nearby stool.

Claire took in her hand one of the prototypes, some kind of metal necklace with a tiny speaker attached to it, a screwdriver in the other hand, fiddled with the device for a minute, then made the blue man try it on.

"Ok, now try to say something", the duchess instructed.

Only a screeching sound came out of the speaker.

"That sounded awful", the witch commented.

"Not as awful as your attempt at singing", her wife added.

"…You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"And two hours later you'll change your mind."

The witch opened her mouth again, then closed it when she realised she couldn't think of a witty reply.

The duchess tinkered with the prototype a bit more before asking the blue man to make another attempt at speaking.

"Hello?" a robotic voice said.

The two women slapped their raised palms together in celebration. Their blue friend was so excited by the possibility to finally be able to speak he couldn't utter any more coherent word and therefore thanked them with a hug.

If the witch and the duchess were able to make such a miracle happen, maybe they could make more. Jack was certain that, given enough time, they would be able to send him back home.

Once the blue man was done thanking his friends, the redhead turned to the warrior :

"We might not be able to send you back in time yet, Jack, but we can offer you shelter."

"Plus you'll have a much better view of the eclipse here than you'd ever do in the city", the blonde added.

"The eclipse?" the man in white repeated.

"Tomorrow's solar eclipse, man! It's like, the event of the century" the man who was no longer mute explained. "You won't see another one any time soon! Actually, I guess Aku himself doesn't wanna miss it either : his fortress teleported in this country 'bout four days ago."

"His fortress…What?" the witch stammered slightly, instinctively taking a step back towards Brouillard. "No-one told me about this…"

"I – I didn't want you to worry… I'm sorry" the duchess apologised.

"Why would she be worried anyway?" the blue-skinned man asked. "What difference does it make where the fortress is?"

Only silence from the three other people in the room replied to him.

As the silence was getting more and more uncomfortable, a brief beeping sound made itself heard ; Claire produced a small cream-coloured rectangular device from her pocket and took a quick look at it.

"Oh, it's just Helios", she said, putting the device back in her pocket. "I'll reply to him later."

"Helios?" Jack asked.

"A friend", the duchess and the blue man both replied at the same time.

The samurai doubted "Helios" was this man's (whoever he was) real name, but who was he to judge?

**Helios :** Hello?

**Helios :** Are you here?

**Helios :** ?

**Raven Queen :** Sorry for the late reply, we received the visit of an old friend today so I was a bit busy.

**Helios :** I see…

**Raven Queen :** Anyway how are you doin'?

**Helios :** I actually am doing fine! 'Getting ready for tomorrow!

**Raven Queen :** For your rendez-vous with the moon? ;p

**Helios :** If by "the moon", you mean you, then yes. :3

**Raven Queen :** …What?

**Helios :** Surprise! I'll go see the eclipse with you!

**Raven :** I don't remember ever giving you my location code?

**Helios :** I didn't need it to find you. ;)

**Raven Queen :** That didn't sound creepy at all! ^^"

**Helios :** I mean, Sky told me you were neighbours, so I didn't need your location code to guess where you live.

**Raven Queen :** Oh. You should have said so from the beginning!

**Helios :** I'll send you a message when I arrive in your village. J

**Raven Queen :** Ok. We'll all be there to welcome you. Anyway I should let my phone down for a minute, my wife just told me it's dinner time. See you!

**Helios :** I can't wait for tomorrow. :3

* * *

[1]Brouillard : French word for "fog". Also a pun on "brouilleur" ("scrambler", something that jams other devices). The "d" is silent.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, as the witch and the duchess were in their bathroom, the latter was making the former try on what she bought her the previous day : a quite simple, yet elegant purple dress.

"You're beautiful", Claire commented as her wife looked at her own reflection.

"I… I can't wear that", the redhead mumbled, her left hand desperately trying to pull the top part of the dress up to cover the long vertical scar on her front.

Why did her spouse buy her something with cleavage? She knew she didn't want her scar to be seen. The witch didn't want to see it herself…

"Don't worry _chérie_ : we'll try the make-up thing again, but with better stuff this time", the blonde explained while taking a small box from the paper bag. "I bought it with the dress. Can I?"

The red-haired woman looked up at her wife, nodded, took the dress and her bra off and let her paint over the scar.

This time, the result actually looked good : the witch couldn't tell the difference between the make-up and her own skin. Her hand covered her mouth and her eyes started to water as she got a glimpse of how her body used to look like before her encounter with Aku four years prior.

"We should have used this brand sooner!" the duchess smiled as she handed her partner her clothes.

"I haven't felt this beautiful since our wedding day…" the duchess' wife stated once she was fully dressed again. "Thank you _ma chérie_."

"I remember… That suit you wore that day was incredible… But you know what the best part about it was? The person wearing it."

"My Raven Queen, I swear you're too sweet with me", the witch said, wiping her tears with the back of hand before giving the woman she loved a passionate, long kiss.

Jack was fully aware that a solar eclipse was a rare occurrence, yet he didn't understand why everyone in the village seemed so excited and were all gathering in the square, wearing special glasses made by the duchess and her wife and smiling brightly at the idea of being able to witness the phenomenon.

He had the chance to be there when an eclipse occurred long ago, in a distant land. Soon after the sun came back, his childhood brutally ended with the destruction of his hometown. He couldn't see how anything good could come from this event.

He had a bad feeling about this.

As the warrior was standing near the castle's entrance, the blue man, visibly enjoying the sound of his brand new voice, was talking for both of them. And since his voice came from the device on his neck instead of his own vocal chords, he didn't even need to take pauses in his speech to breathe.

The witch and the duchess finally arrived, the former clad in purple and the latter wearing a white dress similar to the one she wore the first time the samurai saw her in her real, human form.

"Making friends with Mister Blue Sky I see?" the red-haired woman smiled.

"Your friend is… surprisingly talkative", Jack commented.

"What else is new?" the duchess' wife laughed. "Even when he could only use our sign language I couldn't get him to stop talking. He's _always_ been the most talkative man on Earth."

The blue man replied with a sign only he and his red-haired friend could understand.

"I take it you've known each other for some time?" the samurai guessed.

"Since school", the witch's friend explained. "You're friend with Miss Fireball one day, you're friend with her forever, man. And if you hurt her friends or anyone she cares about, _you will be sorry_."

"Anyway, here's your glasses", the duchess said while handing the two men special dark glasses. "Eclipse or not, the sun's dangerous and can burn your eyes."

The blue man took his own pair right away ; however Jack was more hesitant.

"Speaking of sun", the witch said, "when exactly is Helios supposed to arrive?"

"He just told me he'd send a message when he does", her wife replied. "Anyway that's pretty weird… I mean, we're not even that close, why does he bother coming all the way here?"

"Because this is an awesome day for a first meeting!" the blue man guessed.

"Do you mean you've never met this man before?" Jack asked. "He is your friend but… you've never seen him?"

The blonde replied with another question :

"What century are you from again?"

To the others' surprise and confusion, Jack decided to remain inside instead of going out to see the eclipse with them. When he said he didn't want to reveal his presence to the whole village and attract too much attention, they finally left him alone.

As the duchess, the witch and the blue man approached the square where the village's inhabitants were gathered, the former received a message on her phone. Of course, it was from Helios and it read "I'm on my way :)", to which Claire replied "you'll find me where everyone else is. I'm the tall woman in the white dress. Hurry, it's gonna start soon!"

Minutes passed and still no sign of her friend.

The moon obscured the sun, creating night in the middle of the day, and then slowly continued her course, letting the mighty star reign over the land once again.

"He missed it…" the woman in white said, disappointed.

"No, I didn't" replied a familiar voice behind her.

She froze, took her special sunglasses off and noticed the giant shadow on the ground.

The whole village collectively turned around, gasped and took several steps back. Some of the older citizens even fell on their knees at the sight of the immortal ruler of the world towering over people and buildings alike.

"I certainly couldn't miss my, how did you put it? Rendez-vous with the moon?" Aku continued.

The witch, even though she was trembling so much she could barely stand, instinctively stepped in front of her wife in an attempt to protect her.

"Did you miss me?" the Shogun of Sorrow asked her with a smiled that bared his fangs. "Bah, it seems that you've learned nothing, witch. CAN'T YOU SEE YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR THE POWER OF AKU?"

"It was you… you were Helios from the beginning", Claire guessed, stepping back.

"Yes, it was I indeed", the demon confirmed. "How incredibly observant you are…"

As he started laughing, sending chills down everyone's spines, the redhead prepared a spell.

However, she never had the chance to finish it, as Aku pushed her away with a flick of his finger and took the duchess in his gigantic coal-black hand.

As Samurai Jack, alerted by the sound of his mortal enemy's characteristic laugh, was rushing towards the square, the Deliverer of Darkness was already flying away, holding the witch's wife in his talons.

"I should have been outside with you", Jack said as the witch, the blue man and himself were back in the castle. "I'm sorry…"

"I shouldn't have introduced her to Helios…" the blue man added.

"_You introduced her to him?_" the duchess' wife shouted, raising her left hand.

Some kind of dark energy appeared around her hand as she slowly approached her childhood friend. The latter stepped back, holding his hands in front of his face.

"I- I didn't know it was him! I'm sorry!"

"This is all your fault!" she screamed, ready to use her hex on him…

When Jack interposed himself between the witch and her friend, she realised what she was doing and lowered her fist, making the dark energy disappear.

She covered her face with her hands and lowered her head.

"I… I can't believe it… this is the worst thing that could ever happen…" she whispered to herself.

"Why did he do that?" the blue man asked.

His friend raised her head again.

"If it weren't for Jack and Claire, Aku would have _raped_ me four years ago! What do you think he's gonna do to her? We have to save her!"

As she was speaking, the witch removed the make-up from her chest with her sleeve, revealing her scar. Before any of the two men could reply anything, she stormed out of the room.

"Did she… did she really say… what I heard her say?" the blue man's robotic voice asked the samurai.

"She did", he confirmed. "And it is true. There is no evil deed this demon wouldn't commit."

Only dead silence followed.

Soon, the witch came back in the room, now clad in her grey and brown travelling clothes and holding her staff firmly in her left hand.

"Where's the fortress?" she asked.

"I've heard it appeared in the ruins around the river", the blue man replied.

"We need a plan if we want to save your wife", Jack stated.

"I have an idea", the redhead said, "but you might not like it."


	4. Chapter 4

Riding her staff, the witch was flying high in the sky as fast as her magic could allow, which was pretty impressive under normal circumstances but in the present situation didn't seem fast enough.

She hadn't left the area protected by Brouillard since the machine was created ; however now that the love of her life was in danger, cowering in fear in the castle was obviously no longer an option.

As the ruins of what used to be a radiant city got closer and closer, so did Aku's fortress. The gigantic tower stood on one of two islands in the river that divided the metropolis of the past in two halves. The witch had to land at a safe distance from her objective, as minions were patrolling around it in the air. Others also did on the ground, but those were too busy monitoring the slaves (who were making hundreds and hundreds of Aku Corp products without ever been allowed a decent pause) to pay much attention to her.

When she was little, the redhead was told that, before this city was destroyed by the Shogun of Sorrow when he extended his empire to this part of the world a long time ago, it used to be nicknamed "the city of light." Nowadays, the people hiding in the many sets of tunnels underneath the ruins saw the light of day only when forced to work for the almighty ruler of the Earth and many other planets.

The witch put her hood over her face, adjusted the shoulder bag hidden under her cape and tiptoed past the workers and the guards.

Even though Aku himself was nowhere to be seen, he was everywhere : in the design of the fortress, on his minions' uniforms, in the products made in the open-air factory (including but not reduced to doll replicas of him in a Little Red Ridding Hood outfit)… After four years of rejecting this aspect of the outside world, saying his omnipresence felt overwhelming would be an understatement. The woman with the brown cape went on nevertheless : if she got inside fast enough, she could be able to save her wife. As she was about to reach the fortress' unguarded backdoor, one of Aku's demon minions got out, forcing the witch to hide behind a nearby car in order to avoid being spotted.

The demon was holding a severed human head in his hands. He walked straight to one of those dark spike-trees things that commonly grew around his master's home, casually planted the head on one of the lowest branches and went back inside. The duchess' wife went out of hiding and approached the spike-tree, her mouth and her eyes wide open. It couldn't be…

She dropped her staff and fell on her knees in front of what was left of Claire.

It was already too late.

"No… it – it has to be a trick… It. Has. To. Be."

The witch stood up, removed her beloved's head from the tree, and noticed a folded piece of paper in its mouth. She took it and unfolded it : it was a hand-written letter which read :

"_Dearest witch : _

_What you see is the only part of your beloved that was still in a good enough state to be exposed._

_Love, Aku 3"_

Holding Claire's head against her chest with her arm, the widow shredded the letter into tiny pieces the wind blew away.

As she was about to open her shoulder bag to put all she had left of her spouse in it, she froze then decided against it. Still holding the duchess' head tight against her, she crouched down to pick up her staff. She barely had the time to stand up again before a giant shadow obscured the sun. The witch turned around and cast the first jinx she could think of ; she shot a red flash of light from her staff to find a chicken in front of her. A black chicken with a green beak, a red crest and tiny flames above his eyes.

The demon quickly grew in size and changed in shape as though the curse was only a minor inconvenience.

"What were you even _attempting_ to accomplish here, witch?" Aku asked as his usual giant form towered over the trembling human before him.

He didn't wait for her reply before grabbing her, transporting her across the river and tossing her on the roof of one of the few buildings that still had one.

The widow, still clutching her recently departed wife's head, got back up on her feet with difficulty while the demon broke her staff in half between two of his fingers.

"And your samurai friend isn't here to help you?" he asked, his head still above the witch's eye level despite her being on top of a building and him standing on the ground.

"No", she replied laconically not to let her voice shake as much as her body did.

"You are either the most foolish creature ever or a liar", the Deliverer of Darkness commented while he turned one of his hands into a coal-black mass which wrapped itself around the woman's lower body, preventing her from running away.

His other hand pressed one of its claws against the base of her neck where, hidden under her clothes, her scar started. He leaned forward slightly so that his face was now mere centimetres away from hers.

"Where is he?" Aku asked while slowly re-opening the witch's old wound with his finger, ripping her clothes apart and making her wife's head fall to her feet and roll away in the process. "WHERE IS THE SAMURAI?"

"He's - I was just there to distract you and your minions! Jacksalreadyinthefortress!" the redhead replied, talking so fast it took the demon a couple of seconds to understand her panicky speech.

"Oh, is that so?"

The Shogun of Sorrow straightened up then produced one of his characteristic evil laughs as he looked at the tower in the distance and made it disappear with a snap of his fingers.

"Your little rescue mission was a failure from the very beginning", he stated. "And now, it is a COMPLETE DISASTER! And you didn't even get to see what exactly happened to the person you love. If only there was a way for you to know… Oh wait, there is!"

Aku held out his open palm right before the witch's eyes and an image appeared in the air right above his hand. An image of Claire in the demon's inner chamber.

"The memory is still fresh… you can see everything I saw, hear everything I heard to the _utmost_ details. BEHOLD!"

The widow closed her eyes, covered her ears and started reciting a spell, but of course the overlord wouldn't let her finish it. She couldn't help but scream, open her eyes and let her arms drop on either sides of her as she felt the black mass immobilising her lower body, tighten its grip around her and crawl upward a bit. Her scream abruptly stopped when the demon pushed her diaphragm upward, emptying her lungs.

And the image of the duchess' last moments was still there right in front of her. Aku loosened his grip on the redhead just enough to let her take a tiny gulp of air, just enough to delay her demise and prolong her agony a little bit.

"It was a pleasure to _know_ her, don't you agree?" he commented.

Tears made the human's vision completely blurry, but she still could hear her wife crying in pain. If only she could turn off the implant and be deaf again…

"Had I had my way with you four years ago, you would never have survived. But at least, your wife would still be alive now!"

The witch tried to reply ; however she could barely breathe, let alone speak.

"Were you saying something, foolish witch?" Aku asked while loosing his grip a tiny bit more, letting his victim have just enough air in her lungs to whisper :

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up."

Meanwhile, she struggled to open her tiny shoulder bag with one hand. Once it was only half-open, Samurai Jack himself jumped out the witch's hammer space bag, sword in hand, then cut the demon's palm in half, ending the illusion he was forcing the widow to watch. Aku's expression of surprise (mixed with… was it _fear_?) would have been comical in any other situation. Jack then cut the demon's other arm to set the widow free.

Aku's surprise was soon replaced by pure, undiluted anger : that pitiful, foolish human witch dared to lie to his face not once, but twice in a row. He was done toying with her. Flames as hot as the surface of the sun spurted from his mouth to burn both humans down.

However, the witch, despite not being able to get up on her feet yet, managed, just in time, to create a magic barrier to save the samurai and herself from being reduced to ashes. When and where did she learn that spell?

The barrier flickered and disappeared as soon as the Shogun of Sorrow was no longer breathing fire ; the warrior didn't waste any time before leaping on him and stab him in the chest with his katana. The human's hands remained on the hilt of his weapon as gravity was doing its job and the enchanted blade was burning the demon's body.

Very few things could cause Aku pain and the sword of righteousness was the worst by far ; the pain only made him angrier, however his anger was now fully directed at the one they call Jack. Once the samurai was on the ground, the shape-shifter turned into a giant spider-like creature which rose above most buildings.

As always, the fool just wouldn't let himself be killed : anytime the demon would strike him with one of his eight legs, he would either dodge him or cut his foot off. Aku briefly backed away, took his dragon form and chased his enemy down the streets of the ancient city, flying over the ruins. The samurai hid behind a partially collapsed wall to avoid the dragon's laser vision, the wall exploded, he ran to another one and the process repeated a couple of times before he could strike again with his enchanted blade.

Meanwhile, the witch crawled towards Claire's head, her whole body aching and the wound on her front leaving a thin trail of blood on the roof where Aku and Jack had left her. Once she finally got her hands on what was left of her beloved wife, she repeated the word "sorry" over and over again for what seemed an eternity to her.

"We were on our way to save you my love, I swear! But we arrived too late, I'm sorry…"

In spite of the pain, guilt and sorrow she felt, she stood up one more time and saw her friend and the very demon responsible for the death of the woman she loved were still fighting. There was still a way she could help. It wouldn't be easy and would cost her all the energy she had left and more, however her decision was already taken. After all, what did she have to lose now?

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you…" she told the severed head in her hands. "But at least I can try to avenge you…"

Her clothes torn to shreds, an open wound from the base of her neck to her waist, and holding tightly what was left of the woman she loved, the witch stood near the end of the roof, ready to cast the most powerful spell she would ever cast in her life. The same she had already used four years prior, made much more powerful by giving every single spark of energy she had.

"I don't want to imagine my life without you in it" were her last words before she started the incantation.

Soon, a giant sphere of blinding light hit Aku mid-flight, making him fall on three different partially collapsed buildings, turning them into piles of rubbles. Once the effects of the magic wore off, Jack carefully approached the dragon who was now lying on his side without moving.

Right before the samurai could make sure whether the ageless monsters' state was a trick or not, Aku turned into a rat and ran away.

Jack sheathed his katana, found the building where the witch was and "jumped good" on the roof to check on her.

She was lying on her back, eyes closed, holding her wife's severed head against her chest. No breathing, no pulse to be found : she must have sacrificed her own life to cast a spell powerful enough to make Aku himself fall to the ground.

"I am sorry" the warrior said, tears rolling down his eyes.

"It's not over yet", replied a familiar voice behind him.

It was the duchess' voice. Jack turned around to see her ghost and her wife's holding hands.

"You can still avenge us", the witch's ghost added. "And you can still reach your goals. It'll take some time but I'm sure you'll make it."

"And until you do, we'll be your guardian angels", Claire stated. "Just bury us somewhere and continue on like you always did."

"You still believe in me after I failed to save you?" Jack asked.

"This isn't your fault, it's Aku's" the duchess' ghost replied. "And you will make him pay for what he's done. I trust you. We will always believe in you, Jack."

"I promise not to fail you again, my friends."


End file.
